Production is in full swing here in cottage industry land! Just getting lots and lots of Tea Cup Cards ready for holiday sales. Here's what I do to each card:
The cards come flat from the printer. I slit open the front 'rim' of the cup image with an X-Acto blade, wide enough for a tea bag to fit through.
Each tea bag is trimmed so the edges are nice and even, then I stick a dot of removable glue to the front of it.
The tea bag is slipped into the slit in the 'cup' on the card, I press down so the glue dot sticks to the card, the card is folded in half, then I pop an envelope inside. All the while, I'm looking for anything that isn't right - printing machine marks, ink smears - that sort of thing. If it's not right, it goes into the pile of 'rejects'.
I slip this card-envelope assemblage into a clear bag, remove the strip that covers the adhesive on the bag flap, fold over the flap, and seal the bag. Whew!
The cards are sorted into sets of five - the 'A' set, and the 'B' set (A + B = all ten designs), and a gold elastic cord keeps each set together. (These sets ship nicely in the small US Postal Service Priority Mail Box.)
I'm always checking out new colors of tea bags to show off the tea cup designs to best advantage. Just placed an order that has some promising new ones!
So yes, this time of year it feels a little like being one of Santa's elves - busy busy fun!
I'll be ready for the Rancho Cordova Holiday Fine Art Gallery - three 3-day weekends featuring a dozen local artists at Lowe's shopping center on Zinfandel, starting the day after Thanksgiving. I'll have available 'Aunt Amy's Tea Cup Cards' and a selection of my watercolor and acrylic paintings.
